Almost 10 To Do's to Promote New Year's Eve

Here are a few basic things you should do to promote your New Years Eve: 

1) look at the NYE page on your website to make sure it is correct and looking good. Pay particular attention to prix fixe dinner menu content and pricing.

2) for those that use OpenTable, go to the New Years section on the site for your market and confirm you can find the pub's info and it is correct. 

3) confirm bounceback and 'skip the cover' cards are printed. Confirm 'skip the cover' are being distributed to regulars, locals, people we want to take care of, etc. 

4) Adjacent residence buildings have NYE info posted and/or have distributed to residents 

5) Adjacent hotels (concierge, front desk, sales/catering), especially those not throwing a big event of their own have the NYE info 

6) Incentive the appropriate social groups to come in early. We use the groups to fill in hours we are slow on NYE to realize some early sales create some energy in the pub. Some pubs have a list inside Salesforce, you can also go here. 

7) For those doing a prix fixe dinner menu- menu's are right, printed, ready to go. 

8) Champagne menus are right, printed, ready to go

Networking Groups

You can see a list of different networking groups that we attend around the country here: What kind of networking groups should I attend?

Getting More Party Sales Leads

Having lots of leads (calls, web inquiries) coming to you is an important part of building your business. Eventective.com is a site that does just that. Sign up for a free account and make sure to check the box to opt in to their email. Potential customers go to this site to solicit proposals from multiple event venues. When they submit their info it is emailed to event planners: you will see the type of event, budget, date, attendees and more. If it looks like a good opportunity you buy the lead and contact them immediately. You are likely to get a lot of email everyday so you need to weed through the 'bad ones' to find the right opportunities for the pub.

Networking to Build Sales

Networking outside the pubs is a great way to meet new people who can be the source of new business and referrals.  We're in a people business and people buy people, so the more people you know the more business you will see.

Like anything networking has to be done consistently and your heart has to be in in it.  It's like planting a garden- if you tend to it, good things will bloom. If you don't you'll just waste your time.

We have both real world and online strategies that work,so if you are unsure call someone!  I also found this article on the Marketing for Hippies website that has some great tips:  Four Secrets to Have Networking Turn into Clients

If you are a GM or manager, you should ask your local sales/marketing person questions like:

What networking groups are you attending on a regular basis? Who did you meet at the last one you went to? When are you talking to them again?

On Twitter, are you following INSERT LOCAL HOTEL NAME, INSERT LOCAL SPORT OR SOCIAL GROUP, INSERT LOCAL BUSINESS NAME? Are you giving Twitter 10 minutes every day?

On LinkedIn- is your profile complete and correct?  (Managers- you should look at this to confirm)  Are you connecting with people you meet on LinkedIn?

There is a Networking checklist in the How To section of Google docs.

How to Work with Hotels

Hotel programs need to be done consistently in order for them to work and you need to touch all the different people inside a hotel to maximize your results. If you are just touching the concierge you are missing most of the business opportunities. You need to be connecting with the bell man, valet, the person who drives the van and maybe most importantly the sales / catering people.

Remember, you are not the only pub or restaurant talking to these people each week so the key is being different, standing out, and building a relationship.  You also need to email them important info on a regular basis, emphasizing sports and brunch.

We have a lot of people inside the company who have built really good hotel programs- talk to them!  We also have a lot of hotel information available to you. You can find it here.

Fado Events Video

Just a reminder this video is posted on youtube and can be seen by anyone, here is the link-

NOTE: A Tigin version of this will be posted soon

We need to be pushing this out in as many different ways as we can, especially this time of year, here are a few ideas. How else would you use it?

- Include it in the email you send back to people looking for information

- Include it in your signature line of your email

- Send it to people as part of the follow up you do at networking events

- Ask your promotional partners (CVB, tourism, associations you belong to) to distribute it to their people

- Highlight it in your weekly hotel email

- Post it to your LinkedIn profile

- Send it to your sales/catering people at hotels and invite them in for a drink

Guest Bartender Charity event

The Columbus pub has been doing this promotion for a few years and it has evolved to a point where the charities they work with make good money, it's event that people want to come to (big benefit to those raising money), the pub sees good incremental revenue and bartenders make more in tips.  It's a win-win-win. Watch the video to see how it works.   

Christmas in July campaign

Best Practices for Re-Booking Holiday Parties

1. Make a call or email first- see if people will reserve a date over the phone or online

2. Drop a gift: let them know you are coming first. Gift bags are easy and fun.

3. Use it as a way to fill up your Fri HH goals - invite people in as a way to say 'thank you' and then discuss holiday events.

Tips for using LinkedIn

A good article for so not so creepy ways to meet new people on LinkedIn
Go here

The Weekly Manager Meeting

The Local Sales and Marketing Managers job in the weekly manager meeting is to update the team on three things:

1) Discounts spent the prior week generating new and repeat business vs weekly budget

These numbers can be found on the System Financial. If you aren't sure where to get this or your budget, just ask.

2) Parties coming up for the week
Outline the schedule, food orders, party details etc. Confirm confirmation with the Kitchen is good and that staffing levels are appropriate.

3) The top 2 or 3 sales initiatives / priorities for the week

Communicate to your managers the top things you are working on to identify and sell new business

Point of Sale Rules and Regs

We want to limit the number of things promoted in the pub so we can concentrate our message giving events and promotions a better chance of being seen in the pub.  The thinking is customers need to see something multiple times before it registers.

If we are promoting 6 events or promotions people will switch off 'the noise' and ignore the message. As a result, we have two simple rules:

Rule 1: Max of 3 promotions/events +  all the sports promotion

Rule 2:  Table tents: the same on every table using 2 of the three events you are focusing on at the time.

We want table tents to be event driven as people spend more time and attention with these than most other pieces of point of sale in the pub.

Acceptable Example:

Posters:
Pub Quiz, Private Events, Weekend Bands posters + 6 Nations posters and EPL schedules

Table Tents:
Pub Quiz, Weekend Bands

How to Work with Hotel Catering / Sales Managers

Catering / Sales Managers at hotels work with large groups that have booked rooms inside the hotels. They make sure that their meetings, events and catering are taken care of. That means, they try to sell them as much food and beverage while they are in the hotel as they can.

These groups are everything from small 20 person single day meetings to 500 people from a company staying multiple days.

Inevitably, these groups want to get out of the hotel after their day of work and experience the city. Becasue they work closely with these catering and sales managers they will ask them for recommendations on where to go.

How to Get Referrals
So, these managers are great sources of referrals for us; it's something that we have seen work over and over again in many markets. Like all other forms of referrals and sales, they need to know you and trust you so relationship building is very important.

Ideally, you meet these people, invite them into the pub and you talk to them about what we do for events and explain to them our capabilities.  Always talk in terms of what we have done for past clients to build credibility (name dropping is good).

Sales = Asking Great Questions

You should also ask them these questions:

- Do you work with places like ours? What works best? How often do you work with places like ours?
- What do you think we would be good for for your customers?  How could you use a place like ours?
- How can we help you?

Here are some other ideas:

- Setup a happy hour for them and their staff

- Monthly email communication letting them know about recent parties you have done (to build credibility) with an offer to help them on any events they might be looking at outside the hotel

- Seeing them on a regular basis when you do hotel visits

In general, keep these people top of mind when you are thinking about the benefits and the results from your hotel program.

Going Fishin...

Here's an easy tactic to build some Happy Hour business and it works time and time again. Drop the fishbowl at the door with signage promoting giving away a happy hour party each week.  Then, on Monday, pull all the cards and email out a congratulatory email, letting them know they have won a happy hour party for the office this Friday.

Also, in addition to just dropping the fishbowl, encourage staff to ask guests for cards so they can enter them as well.

Cold calls suck... until now

I've think I've met maybe three people in my life who love grinding away on the phone to generate new business. Most of us hate it and most people who get the calls hate it to: they are a waste of time, adding no value at all. That is.... until now. This is a brilliant outline on how to use voicemail and outbound calls to your advantage-

7 Voicemail Messages for Successful Ad Agency New Business Development

Gift Baskets- They Key to Everyone's Heart

The Basket Campaign

This campaign is intended to book parties where you can drive big sales (over $3000).Many times these parties will be brought to you by Destination Management Companies (DMC's). You can find a list of these companies if you go to these sites and click your city:

http://www.dmcnetwork.com/partners/
http://www.conworld.net/dmc/

You can also do a Google search for "destination management companies" AND "YOUR CITY NAME" to get a listing. Note- this program also works for larger corporate customers and is a great way to get their attention or other VIP style customers or partners.

It's the one thing we've done over the years where recipients actually pick up the phone and call the pub to say thanks because they are so appreciative.

What's in the basket? 

Items that are symbolic of the Pub- authentic, quality, Irish, fun. For example:
(1) Fado t-shirt
(2) Guinness Glasses
(2) Bushmills Glasses with a bag of Reg. Coffee and a bag of Decaf Coffee
(2) Small bottles of Bushmills with an instruction book how to make a proper Irish Coffee
(1)Box of Lyons Tea
(1)Banquet Package (Folder, pub sheet, banquet menu, other things that make us look great)

The baskets are filled with straw type basket filler available at any craft store and are then tastefully wrapped in plastic with a bow. Each basket will cost $30-$40 to assemble. The cost should be coded to Advertising.

Sending the basket

The basket is either personally delivered by someone from the Pub, or in the event the delivery point is far away or someone from the pub can't get there, a courier service is used. The basket needs to be personally addressed to a senior decision maker with a personalized note from the main point of contact at the Pub with phone and email address included. You should send 10 baskets at a time minimum.

Follow up

Three days after the basket arrives you should make a phone call to the decision maker introducing yourself and asking if you can host them and 5 or 6 people from the Company at the Pub for the purpose of showing what the Pub is able to do for catered events.  Ask them if they received their gift.

4 Ways to Build New Sales Inside the Four Walls

We got these tips from Mallory in Chicago and Helen in Atlanta; simple ways to create group / event business from customers in the pub today. 4 Tips for Internal Marketing

How to Pour Bottled Beer

The right way to pour a bottled beer... and why. Courtesy of our friend George Reisch from AB, filmed in the Chicago pub.

We're not in the burger and beer business

When you dig into what's going on inside customers heads, you realize people don't come to us to eat and drink. They come to us to feel something- something fun, lighthearted, different and a little 'off'. They expect a type of hospitality (not service) that they don't think they can get elsewhere.

 They want to be taken through an experience.

Our beers are foreign to most (believe it or not)
Our food is different
Our style of service is authentic ...

and customers just want to let go when they come to see us.

 They don't want to be asked what they want because they don't know. They want you to help them figure out what they will like and then make a great recommendation.

They want you to do something unexpectedly nice for them. Look after them like they were in your home.

Working with Office Building Property Managers

Here is an easy summary on meeting with office building property managers, they are the key to building business from office towers.

I have done this in a couple of markets personally and have never NOT been met with interest. In each office tower there is an office for the property management company, the company in charge of tenant communication and running the building.

Go in and tell the receptionist who you are and that you want to understand how to market our programs to their tenants. Ask for the Property Manager or Assistant Property manager. If they are busy make an appointment later, if not, meet with them.

Here's what I usually say...

"I wanted to introduce myself and ask about marketing some of our business programs to your tenants. We do special lunch and happy hour programs for office buildings. Everyone is a little different so I wanted to see if it's something you normally do with businesses like ours and if so how you have seen it be successful."

They'll ask what we want to offer, explain the 20% off lunch (on Thurs or Fri only, do not deviate from this early on- later week lunch with us is an easier decision for non customers) and the shifty Happy Hour party ideas.

Redemption for tenants should be easy- they just have to mention what building they are from, no coupons, business cards, etc. Again, don’t deviate from this. Make sure you setup a button internally on Micros so this program is trackable.

Then, just start a conversation, with lots of questions in order to define next steps-
Do you do make tenants aware of offers like this?
How do you communicate it?
What info/materials do you need from me?

Can we put together a party for you and your team here in the management office so you can recommend Fado with confidence?

Charity Bartender Event

When people call the pub and want a donation, flip them over to an event in the pub to raise even more money. That's what the 'Guest Bartender' event is all about.

Good charities can organize 40-50 people to come out over happy hour.

Here's how it works- A popular member of the charity gets to play bartender for an hour or two. While they are behind the bar, there is a tip jar out that charity members fill with tips ($500-$1000). We provide everyone their first round of pints and some light food. On average everyone will stay for 2-3 drinks (they pay for these) and they raise significant funds for the charity which is a great thing.

They also have a lot of fun in the process. You can do it at least quarterly, a couple a month doesn't hurt as it's not something you need to promote in the pub. Has worked well for many years in Columbus and if you need something to jumpstart happy hour this should be part of your playbook.

If you have questions on this, email Scott Neff sneff@fadoirishpub.com

Profit From Charities

Great idea from Toni and Gerry in Seattle...

Friday, July 22, 2011 9:

This is s a great story of bringing people into the pub to support Fri nights and something that you can replicate in your markets. Since last week, Sarah (referred to below) has referred two additional parties (no discounts) to the pub, 75 people total, just because she’s passionate about Fado.

It’s one person generating 130 people worth of business with no discounts. Pretty awesome. Remember, your best source of new business comes from those who know us and love us; it just takes a little creativity and proactively finding those people to make it happen.

From: Gerry Leonard Sent: Tuesday, July 19, 2011 2:10 PM T

JP, as I mentioned to you earlier we are beginning to see momentum around this and also seeing the fruits of Toni’s work with groups and charities. Last Friday we had a great night, in large part because we were able to bring in Gorillas FC and their hook with Child Advocacy group CASA.

In two weeks we have the Seattle Singles group coming in and two weeks after that we have a Breast Cancer Foundation night. The girl who was behind last Friday’s event came in to see me last night. She was very excited about how everything went and wants to hold more nights. She is a young lawyer and is very active in the charity/helping the community network.

The next group she is looking to tie in with Ladies 80’s is Seattle Works which has over 400 members and is a young, professionals organization that does volunteer work throughout the city. She seems exactly the type of person we want to be involved with. Even yesterday there were little side benefits like Sarah not realizing we had free wi-fi, now she is going to suggest us to friends and colleagues as a great spot for meetings.

The hook for them last Friday was we would give them Gift Cards to the value of $10 per lady they brought to the pub, she brought 62! She loves this incentive and I think going forward it makes every kind of sense and is a much better value for us than giving free drinks (which we will still use when needed, e.g. Singles). 

What I like about the gift card incentive is:
1) Does not affect sales on the night.
2) Gets us promotion at other events when they are used as raffle/door prizes.
3) Especially with Sarah’s events at the pub, these cards are going to be used at events involving the type of demographic we are looking for. Young professionals.
4) Let’s us be seen as being involved in the community.
5) Going to bring people to the pub to use their cards that might never have been here before.

One great thing that Sarah did was have every lady sign in as they came in. She explained it to me as a way to make them feel their presence actually meant something, made them feel that their presence really counts. We are not just handing over a donation but a donation whose amount is directly tied to the amount of bodies who show up.